By BRITTANY BACON
July 26, 2007 —
Jarred R. Hensley, 24, of Cincinnati, Ohio. He is his state's second highest-ranking official of the Imperial Klans of America, and one of the men who pleaded guilty to second-degree assault for the beating of a 16-year-old boy. (Courtesy of the Southern Poverty Law Center)
They didn't need their white sheets or pointed hats this time.
Their steel-toed black boots with red laces were enough to crack the teenage boy's ribs, break his arm, hurt his jaw and inflict enough emotional damage to last a lifetime.
For Jarred Hensley and Andrew Watkins, two members of the nation's second-largest Ku Klux Klan group, the mistaken belief that Jordan Gruver was Hispanic was apparently reason enough for them to beat the 16-year-old to the ground after showering him with racial slurs, spit and whiskey at a Kentucky county fair in July, according to court papers.
The year was not 1865. It was 2006.
The two Klan members are locked up in a Kentucky state prison for the next three years while, until this week, their white supremacist organization continues to operate undeterred.
But Wednesday, the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit group known for taking on some of the country's largest hate groups, added the entire Imperial Klans of America organization and three of its high-ranking officials to a civil lawsuit the organization filed against Hensley and Watkins in February. The consolidated suit seeks an unspecified amount of money for both punitive and compensatory damages.
The IKA, whose headquarters are in Dawson Springs, Ky., "promotes violence and intimidation and calls for the death of racial and ethnic minorities, homosexuals and so-called 'race traitors,'" said SPLC president Richard Cohen in a statement.
There has been a 40 percent rise in the number of hate groups since 2000 as documented by the SPLC an increase experts say has been fueled by anti-immigration rage aimed largely at Hispanics. The SPLC says legal action has proved to be one, if not the only effective way to put these groups out of business.
The Fateful Evening
On July 30, 2006, a group of IKA members went to the Meade County Fairgrounds in Kentucky to hand out ads for a "white-only" Klan function as part of their official recruiting drive, according to court documents.
Shortly after midnight, the lawsuit says, Hensley, the second-highest-ranking Klan official in Ohio, and Watkins, IKA's webmaster, approached Gruver, a teenager of Panamanian-Indian descent, and "without provocation" began calling him racial slurs such as "f--ing spic."
They surrounded him, knocked him to the ground and kicked and hit him repeatedly, "solely because he has brown skin," Gruver's lawyers said in a news release. During the attack, the defendants also spit on Gruver and poured alcohol on him.
Two other Klan members, including Kentucky's highest-ranking Klan member, referred to in court documents as "J. Edward," allegedly watched the beating with encouragement and made no attempts to stop it, according to the complaint. Edward is one of the three officials named in the SPLC's suit Wednesday.
The 5-foot-3-inch, 150-pound Gruver sustained injuries all over his body from the beating; one of his attackers stood a foot taller than Gruver and was double his weight.
According to a letter from Gruver's attorneys, Hensley and Watkins "showed no remorse for their crime," smirking and gesturing at the victim during their criminal sentencing.
Hensley, 24, the Grand Titan of the group, has appeared on CNN to discuss the Klan and has created a Yahoo screen name (ohioss88) and MySpace account name (violence) to reflect his supremacist mission, according to court papers. Watkins, 26, was a member of the IKA music group known as the Totenkof Saints German for "death's head" and performed songs like "No Mercy," which called for the murder of nonwhites, including "spics."
Payback Time
A Meade County grand jury in September indicted the two men on second-degree assault charges for a hate crime, alcohol intoxication in a public place and disorderly conduct.
In February, Hensley and Watkins were sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree assault. On the same day, Gruver filed a civil lawsuit for damages against the defendants with the help of the SPLC, saying that he had endured physical pain and emotional distress and feared future attacks by IKA members, according to the complaint.
SPLC's additional filing this week alleges that the IKA is also responsible for the beating because it knew or should have known that there would be racial and ethnic minorities at the county fair, and that it was "reasonably likely" that its members would act against these individuals.
A phone message to the Imperial Klans of America was not immediately returned. Attorneys for Hensley and Watkins could not be reached for comment and have not yet replied to the lawsuit.
'No Mercy' for the Klan
The SPLC has brought down about 10 of the nations' largest and most violent white supremacist organizations over the last 25 years by helping victims of racial violence sue for monetary damages.
Its recent court victories include a $9 million dollar verdict against four white Texan men who beat a mentally challenged black man, causing him permanent brain damage, and a $37.8 million verdict (later reduced to $21.5 million) against the Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (the largest verdict ever against a hate group.)
It wrote that its courtroom costs are funded entirely by its supporters and that it takes no legal fees from clients.
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
Source: ABCNews
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SKINHEAD BANDS
The leader of a Skinhead-band is sued, because someone finds
his lyrics "offensive." Another band splits up, because one of its
members decides he doesn't want to be a Skinhead, anymore. Yet,
another band dissolves, because its leader goes to jail. Sound
discouraging? Not really. The flip side is that Skinhead-bands are
alive and well, but just seem to have more than their share of
bad-luck. Notwithstanding, many are drawn to the Skinhead-cause
by hearing a band-clip or catching a band-video, over the Internet.
Recruits report that hearing powerful words and seeing compelling
images sometimes reaches much further and lasts much longer than
even the band, itself. Some have acquainted hearing a Skinhead-band,
for the first time, to being caught up in a near-religious experience.
How huge is that.
Skinhead-bands are notable for their uniformity. Members invariably
are totally clean-cut, shaved-headed, dressed as street-warriors and,
most of all, defiant. The very names, chosen by some bands, are
shocking and thought-provoking, such as "Scum," "Criminal Feast" and
"Trouble Makers", while others echo deep-seated patriotism, such as
"Loyalty" and "Red-White-and-Blue". Whether a lifestyle-statement,
such as "Haircut", or a political-statement, such as "Get Out", the
shockwaves reverberate. But, what if a band is sued or, even,
prosecuted? One band-member suggested that it would have been
a good idea to use a bit of "preventive-maintenance," to learn about
legal-pitfalls and secure legal-advice, early on, before problems
crop up. Another warned against conspiracies.
Skinhead-bands have been plagued by music-rip-offs,
production-gauging and faithless-adherents, as much, if not more,
than any other musicians. However, attaching to a political-movement,
as a "house-band" of an organized group, as well as a cause, can
be appealing and, if the group has a worthy, legal track-record,
teaming-up can help to avoid unnecessary risks. In addition to
legal-savvy goes business-acumen. Knowing who is trustworthy,
whether in court or in the marketplace, can prevent getting "burned
out," as well as ripped off. Ian Stuart, for example, reached his heights,
when he was part of The National Front. When he struck out on his
own, he lost some of his glamor and organizational-backup.
"Red-White-and-Blue" was on a fast-track, when it was the official
mouthpiece for The Nationalist Movement, until in-fighting broke it up.
One band-member complained that his group of four had been plagued
by one of his compatriots "going over to the other side" and with one
other "turning" against the cause. Another reported that he had gone
through multiple band-members, with only two loyalists, sticking it
out to the end. Such ups-and-downs bestow even more credit upon
those who ride out the storm, in the face of not only external but internal
convulsions. One sorely-neglected but potential strong-point is the
spoken word. Some who have become singers have never realized
their potential for oratory. Yet, a potent speech, following warm-up by
a lively band, can be all the more overpowering. In fact, Skinheads,
such as Louis Castro, are, finally, "graduating" from simply singing
and protesting to public-speaking and running for office. Some are
even becoming full-time activists.
One Skinhead-band delivered a supercharged musical-message. "What
about the Jews? No mercy. What about the spics? No mercy. What
about the niggers? No mercy. What about the faggots? No mercy. What
about the traitors? No mercy." Promoting an ideology by what the United
States Supreme Court has termed "pure political-speech" is within the
boundaries of free-speech, unless proponents tie their message in
with reckless conduct, in which case they may either land in jail or,
perhaps, achieve their reforms, in the vein of all vigilantes. Taking
risks to win over the public, however, may well determine if the
"heels" of one day become the "heroes" of the next.
One Skinhead-bandleader pointed out that a musician who was
"judgment-proof" need not worry about being sued and one who had
any material-possessions, at all, could file bankruptcy. However,
he added that, in either case, the one under attack, for whatever
reason, should be prepared to state his case, win or lose, without
regard to his own welfare. Easier said than done, but the sentiments
are widespread among dedicated-activists. Several former
Skinhead-band-members, jailed for political-reasons, have voiced
their determination to take up their music, where they left off, once
they are freed. However, many have warned others that, even though
their band may be named "Trouble Makers", their mission must be
to stay out of legal-troubles, if at all possible. "A band won't last
forever," one die-hard beamed, "but Skinheads will."
http://www.skinheadz.com/docs/history/2008/090801.html
Copyright 2008 Skinheadz
Guess What?
Gruver won the 2.5 million dollars lawsuit. Hopefully, this will break apart the KKK.
the kkk will never be split up it will live forever
34 chapters in California that is..nationwide its prob in the thousands.
In case none of you know it. the israelites are gods chosen people,and everyone in the whole world can trace thier DNA back to one woman. EVE so unless you believe in evolution then we all come from the same race. just diferent colors. and if you do believe in evolution you can't be a christen can you? SO ALL OF YOU HATE MONGERS; ARE GOING TO HELL!!!!
Now put that in your pipe and smoke it!!
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